Cordyceps militaris and all of my other cordyceps species grow and fruit well on supplemented brown rice or most grains. A good recipe for supplementation is as follows for a 1 liter solution.
-2 tbs malt and/or dextrose(I like a 50/50 mix)
-1 tsp sweet potato starch (tapioca or potato works fine
-3 tbs nutritional yeast
-2 tsp pea protein isolate or peptone
-1/2 tsp gypsum and/or calcium carbonate
-1/2 tsp kelp powder (optional)
-1/4 tsp potassium phosphate (optional)
-1/4 tsp ammonium citrate (optional)
-1/4 tsp zinc gluconate (optional)
Put 40 grams of rice in a quart jar and add 60 ml of solution. Pressure cook for 1 hour. Let cool overnight or make sure the substrate is below 70f before inoculation.

Inoculate with atleast 5-10ml liquid culture. I like to use 18 to 24ml of lc. Using large amounts of liquid culture is a great way to guarantee faster colonization. When I use enough I can get colonization time to exactly 2 days for everything. Cordyceps degrades as it expands so keeping this to a minimum will give you a better chance at a successful harvest. Colonization is normally done in complete darkness. After they're colonized to a wispy white coating of mycelium you want to get them immediately under a light source. I like 6500k spectrum. This will trigger them to stop colonization and begin fruiting. It's extremely important to not let the mycelium get fluffy and aerial in the dark. Over colonization is where most people go wrong.

Simple cordyceps substrate (updated on 4/18/23)

1000ml solution
3 whole eggs blended well (shells included)
1 tbs malt
1 tbs yeast
Add dry ingredients to blended eggs add water to bring it to 1000ml blend again. Put 35g rice in a qt jar add 50 ml solution not including the foam in the measurements and Pressure cook 1 hour at 15 psi. This new and improved egg substrate recipe is one of the best I've seen for cordyceps cultivation and a great choice if you don't want to buy a variety of other ingredients. Most people have this all in their kitchen.

Colonization temperatures should be kept at 72f or below and fruiting should be at 67f or below. Going above this will cause problems in fruiting as they'll degrade faster and be at risk to mycoparasitic growth. If all goes well you should see a bright color change to the mycelium in a matter of days and after a 2 to 4 weeks you should see the first signs of pins forming. Patience is the toughest part as they'll normally take 60 to 70 days to finish. I usually target for about 2 months and let them go until 70 if they're still somewhat firm and clean and still actively growing. Harvest at any sign of white fluffy growth on the fruiting bodies.

Using Beauveria and Metarhizium as a biopesticide
These cultures produce conidia spores as they grow on agar and grain. They colonize like a white or green mold almost. I think the best method for easy application would be to use the liquid culture to inoculate grain jars. Let the jars colonize completely and maybe an extra week or 2 for added spore production. When ready simply pour water in the jar and shake vigorously to dislodge the spores and strain out the water and use or dilute as a spray application or pour on the affected areas. The grain can also spread on the ground in the affected area because these fungi are known to live in soil around the world and they will likely continue to produce more spores if the conditions are right.

Liquid culture for cordyceps

I like a low concentration of sugars for cordyceps militaris in liquid culture, somewhere around 1 percent sugar seems great. A low nutrient level seems to slow degradation but the colonization time isnt affected.
5g dextrose
5g light malt extract
1 liter water
Mix well and pressure cook for 30 minutes at 15psi then cool to under 70f and inoculate with 2 or 3 ml liquid culture.
I highly suggest avoiding any yeast or peptone in cordyceps liquid culture recipes unless you plan to use them within a week. The added nitrogen will speed up growth but also the degradation of the cultures. I'll add some minerals to my recipe like calcium which seem to benefit long term storage but usually just a gram or 2/liter.

Let your expanded liquid culture colonize for only 3 to 5 days with a good shake or stir once or twice a day. Keep them in complete darkness only bringing them out for a few minutes at a time while stirring. I'm sure you won't believe it's ready to use yet but that usually means it's good and ready. If you see mycelium building up on the sides or surface of the liquid it's getting overcolonized. You want to use it fast too. Try to get it all on substrate by day 6 or 7 from inoculation for best results. If you can't use all the liquid culture before a week is up it can be refrigerated for up to a few weeks but it's always better to use fresh.

Advanced broth recipe:
1 liter water
1 tbs malt
1 tbs dextrose
1 tbs sweet potato starch
3 tbs nutritional yeast
2 tsp pea protein isolate
1/2 tsp calcium carbonate
1/4 tsp kelp powder
1/4 tsp calcium sulfate (gypsum)
1/4 tsp zinc sulfate
1/4 tsp ammonium citrate
1/4 tsp potassium phosphate
1/4 tsp iron oxide

When you receive your Cordyceps militaris liquid culture syringes keep them in the refrigerator at all times. Only bring it out to expand new liquid culture that you'll use to inoculate supplemented rice substrate. Heat and light should be avoided and never leave them sitting out above 75f.

I have a large variety of edible and medicinal mushroom cultures available here from wild clones mostly found in western Pennsylvania. If there's anything specific you are looking for or if you prefer petri dish cultures or culture slants please feel free to message me.

I'm available for guided tours of the woods or cordyceps forays. I'm based in western Pennsylvania but often branch out to nearby states.

I suggest starting off with jars and I still prefer to grow in them here for the simplicity. All of these jars should have lids modified with a quarter inch hole and either a filter disc or 2 layers of micropore tape is fine.

Pint jars are among my favorite and you can fit more in a standard 23qt pressure cooker with less wasted space. They pin a bit faster and have less chance of stalling or slowing down. They cook up perfectly with 25g rice and 40ml broth.

Quart jars can go anywhere from about 35g to 45g without getting too thick. A thicker cake will take longer to pin, and if it's too thick, they may not grow at all or just a little along the sides. 35 is great for beginners because that time spent waiting on the first pins can be stressful. So 35g rice with 50-55ml broth is good to start with. I mostly use 40g with 60ml broth here for my own grows. 45g rice to 70ml broth if you know you have a great strain in good conditions. My beast9x10 and high five strains do well on thicker substrate.

Now my favorite way to grow in jars is the sideways quart jar. For these I use the metal lids because the plastic lids aren't water tight. I like to offset the gas exchange hole to the side so it can be positioned near the top of the sideways quart jar. Put 50g of rice in the jars then tilt it sideways and pour in 75ml of broth. Place the lid on and tighten the seal ring before evenly distributing the contents along the bottom side of the jar. Cook them up horizontally. You can stack 3 rows of 3 perfectly in a 23qt presto, and this gives you the most surface area of substrate per load. I get about double or more in weight from a sideways quart compared to an upright quart jar.